Lekhwiya coach Michael Laudrup
By Sports Reporter/Doha
The title race for the Qatar Stars League has been between only two teams this season – Lekhwiya and Al Sadd. Both teams have exchanged the top spot quite a number of times. And after the previous round, the lead changed hands again as Lekhwiya lost to El Jaish while Sadd won against Umm Salal. And today Lekhwiya have a chance to regain the lead as they face the bottom-placed team Al Shamal.
Here are what the coaches and the players had to say about this match during the pre-match press conferences.
Lekhwiya head coach
Michael Laudrup:
“To be fair, it’s one of these games that I don’t like very much. There is a lot to lose and not too much to win. Let me explain. We are playing the bottom-placed team. We are big favourites but we have to show that on the pitch. So that’s why it’s one of those games that I don’t quite like. As for our last result, I don’t think we deserved to lose but we did.”
“As for our battle with Al Sadd, in the last 4 or 5 games, we have been alternating the top spot in the table. The difference of 1 or 2 points that we see now is not that important. We play each other on February 28. That’s a big game and we have to see after that game how the points are in the standings.”
“I would like to congratulate Sadd for making it to the group stages of the Asian Champions League. It’s unfortunate that El Jaish couldn’t make it. It would have been great for Qatari football if we had three clubs in the group stages.”
“Before I came here I had studied the table for the past few years. This year the battle is between us and Al Sadd. Both of us have had a good season so far. But I still think that there are a couple of other teams that are capable of winning the title. So I don’t think it’s just us two who are title contenders in the Qatar Stars League.”
Lekhwiya defender
Mohamed Mousa:
“Losing matches happen in football. It can happen everywhere. In the last game we had a good game. We didn’t deserve the loss and our target is now to do well in the match against Shamal. There is no specific reason for our loss against Jaish. This is football. If you don’t use your opportunities then you won’t win. We had some and we didn’t score and our opponents did.”
Al Shamal head coach
Dragan Cvetkovic:
“This game is against a big team and a big side. It’s a very tough game and a big challenge for us especially when they have many big-name players. Lekhwiya will have Sebastian Soria back for this game. So our task is very difficult in this game. And not just Soria but they also have other players who can change the fortune of the game, like Weiss and Nam too.”
“We have to ensure that we don’t make the same mistakes that we did in the previous two games. If we make such mistakes, it will be very difficult especially when we play against the Lekhwiya players who have very good individual technique.”
“I will not play with eight defenders when we face Lekhwiya because it’s not the right strategy against such a good team. We will try to get the right balance between attack and defense.”
“Unfortunately the results don’t reflect the job done in the club every day. I admit that our team is fragile. The problem is that when we concede one goal the team becomes more fragile, especially when we concede the goal early. We have to rectify that and focus on the right balance between attack and defense. But that is something that we are working on every day.”
“We must believe in ourselves. We must take any chance we have to win the game. Maybe we need to get a bit luckier to get some confidence back.”
Fixtures
Lekhwiya vs Al Shamal
Al Wakrah vs Al Shahaniya
